Celebrating crafts, kids and the everyday through photographs.
Awe man grandpa’s hip is broken. The good news? I got him to take morphine… after I assured him it didn’t come from Afganistan drug lords. I’m in the hall. It’s 2am and I don’t need visions of grandpa getting a catheter in my head before I sleep. Hearing him get it is bad enough. Do nurses get paid enough to do this stuff? I’m guessing not.
And what would you use the top ones for? There seem to be a lot of useless things like these around. Bored waiting for grandpa to come back from x-ray. I can hear the guy next to me puking. Please lord I do not want to get sick. Also of you could make Ravelry not crash my iPhone’s browser that would be great too.
Blogging from the ER. When asked by the doctor what was wrong, “my ass hurts.” So elequent. Bj had to go work on a presentation and I have no knitting with me. π Uh oh grandpa just said he’s “gonna get mad in a minute.” Gotta go.
Well not really stars, but beautiful lights hung at my friend’s wedding. Tex and Martin tied the knot this weekend in a wonderful nursery setting.They, of course, looked wonderful and their love for each other was over-flowing, so great to see. 
The light coming in on them during the ceremony was amazing.
Tex had her friends all help with differnt part of the day. Her makeup (and hair accessory π was done by Reid, and her friend’s Gavin and Wed made this unique bouquet:
Later it was switched around so that tables filled the all the space between the plants (Tex works at this nursery):
So wonderful to be around all of our great friends, especially all the girls from crew. I love times like this where we can all be together to celebrate. Three cheers to a great party and a wonderful beginning Tex and Martin! (p.s. just because your last name is changed doesn’t mean I won’t still call you Tex!)
I did have to leave a bit early and miss out on some dancing because of the pain in my side (doctor’s appointment Thursday woo hoo). And I do feel more and more like I’m cruising around with a really heavy basketball strapped to my stomach. But it was fun to get dressed up and people were so sweet telling me that I looked good. I have a new mission in life. Everytime I see a pregnant person I’m going to tell them they look fantastic! The next day the spinning I’d done earlier was finally dry. After my felting scare I was afraid to aggitate the wool fibers at all, so it hung to dry for a few days. I did my first true 3-ply (as opposed to the Navajo plying I have done):
And had a little bit of two singles left over to two ply a tiny little skein:
I actually think I like the 2-ply better. Both are very squishy and I can’t believe they came from the roving I thought was felted, but the three ply might be more work than it’s worth for me. No matter I had no other time to spin this weekend as it was all jars… all the time!
I just released these on my site, so you should still be able to snag some. 18 special collections, a new limited edition jar for September (20 of them), plus I updated the sale page with previous month’s jars and the paper crafting kit (which I love but didn’t fly off the shelves). You can see the jars here and the sale stuff here.
Oh my goodness I had so much fun with Tracy on Wednesday. I know, I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I totally won the lottery on getting a house in this neighborhood! I mean how many of your neighbors have all your same hobbies? It’s brilliant. Anyway we have been saying for almost two years now that we need to have a dye day, and we finally set one up! Luckily Tracy offered up her backyard and we went to town:
We couldn’t have asked for better weather, warm, but not too hot. And of course Tracy’s yummy garden smelled delicious:
Mmmmm. We had roving, and I had some yarn to dye as well.
In progress roving dying. We mixed (well Tracy did since the mixing is dangerous for this mama) a bunch of colors and then used bits of sponges to dab or drip the dye on the wool:
Which had been soaking by the way. After it was all dyed we rolled it in saran wrap and then either put it in the microwave, or in that double boiler thing you see at the top. I think both methods work well. You have to heat set the dye so that’s why it needs to be warmed. One thing I would watch out for in the future is not having too much extra dye/liquid in with the packet because I read that can actually boil and felt the wool. I did get felting on some, one was pretty bad. I got very impatient after carefully rinsing and re-rinsing the extra dye out and didn’t want to wait too long for it all to dry. I had read that you could put your wool in a delicates bag and then pop it in the washer on a spin only cycle. I did this and some came out felted, but I don’t know if that is what did it. Here is everything I dyed:
The crinkly yarn and the fuzzy stuff on the bottom left are actually from a sweater, I’m going to knit up a sample so I’ll blog about that later. I did try a little kettle dying (where you put the yarn in hot water and then pour dye):
I was careful not to mix the dye around so I would get some good variations. But my favorites by far were the rovings:
yum! 
This is one I really liked, and was the most felted. I thought I had ruined it. I called Tracy over in a panic, but she showed me that I could just spend a lot of time pulling it apart. I did last night, and started spinning it:
It worked! So I don’t have any ruined wool, not bad I’d say. Plus I got this blend of wool (I would guess merino and BFL? It is so soft) at 92 cents an ounce, so it was much more economical than buying dyed rovings (not that I’m going to totally stop doing that, some people are just color geniuses). I have a lot more pictures I dyed up nearly two pounds of fleece and five skeins of yarn, so check out my flickr page, which I’m just headed over to update, if you want to see more.
I know being gone from the blog this long should mean that I was doing something so fantastic, like picking up and heading to Paris or something (passport not up to date, sorry). Instead I was busy being sick, yuck! And not fair because Saturday was my birthday and I was a sniffling sometimes crying mess. Let’s back up though. Friday I was feeling a little under the weather, but pretending like I was okay so Sciarrino and I headed up to Portland. It was a day of pure Amber-Sciarrino fun times, the best kind. We chatted it up in the car (she drove – thanks Sciarrino!), shopped a bit, and even hit up a babies-r-us, crazy times. π Did I mention the dinner at Sweet Tomatoes? Or the pit stop at Abundant Yarn and Dye shop? Ya it was awesome. On the way back we picked up her sweetie and headed home. But wait she had another stop to make. Ahhhh I thought they had forgotten, but no, Bj and Sciarrino coordinated to get me the fourth consecutive birthday ice cream cake. Always trying to out do themselves they got me this:
A knitting gold medal, score! They always base it off of what I’ve been watching on TV, lately it’s been the Olympics π And I totally earned this by the way. I’m doing toe-up 2-at-a-time socks:
Let’s not talk about the fact that one sock suddenly has one less stitch than it’s supposed to or the fact that I have no idea what to do after the instep (this looks hard!) or that since I can try them on as I go I’m certain they are going to be too big. 
But instead focus on the fact that they are a) out of my handspun, b) not for the baby, and c) are going to be kick ass knee-highs, though possibly for someone else π
So onto the birthday haps. Bj made me a big yummy breakfast. We met with an electrician to get a bid, then chilled for a bit. Bj’s mom got me foot soak, so I tried it out and painted my toenails (maybe for the last time, it was hard!). I was meanwhile starting to go down that slippery slope that only a bad head cold can take you down. Croaky voice, lots of kleenex, yuckiness. I like to act like I’m dying when I’m sick so I was a mess. Bj had plans for me later in the day, I knew. But when we were running errands before said plans I started to sob for no good reason, other than I felt yucky. He asked me if I wanted to know what he had planned, and I broke down and said yes, fearing I wouldn’t be able to do it. He had planned to drive me 45 minuets south to my favorite Indian food place, then take me to get my favorite dessert, also in that town. Then come back for the fair. I started crying again, I just knew that I would never make it through all of that, with the cold, and the bad side pain I get every evening. He asked me what I wanted to do and since I HAVE TO go to the fair to get my annual portrait I said just to the fair. We went, I got the portrait:
And the black and white one was all splotchy so I made Bj do a color one with me as well. I only lasted an hour and half and then I was DONE. Bj was so sweet, we went home and just relaxed. I don’t think it was a bad way to turn 28, just not what I was expecting. Oh and I saw this at the fair:
Crew girls, who made this awesomeness? I want one! Look, it’s me in the back!
The rest of the weekend I had to totally take it easy. And even succumbed to some (dr. approved) drugs. I did do something interesting today (besides watch the totally awesome Bones premiere!), details to follow. And a package showed up on my doorstep with the new Kathy Reichs novel and Alias Season One, babers thank you! I said no presents, but happy happy day to me π
Hey I just started getting Mothering magazine and for some reason they sent me two September-October issues today. I would love to trade one for the last issue released, I’m guessing July-August, it had an article about circumcision on the cover. I don’t care if it’s worn that is just really the issue I wanted, anyone want to trade?
Bj had to have a haircut last night. No pictures, as he always makes the worst faces (think being tortured faces). Grandpa likes to get his haircut almost as much:
I like how they both looked up at me like that.
Bj went to San Fransisco for the day. Because he got up at four I thought I’d be able to sleep a little longer, but oh no someone had to call me at 6:50, I still had a good half hour of sleep in me damn it! The worst part? They hung up after I answered, argh. So it’s just me and baby.
Haha that looks huge.
That skirt is getting too tight, you can see where it pushes in a little. Another one bites the dust. I did have Bj take some full body shots of me, but I tend to get a bit pushy when it comes to camera settings, where to set up, and that kind of thing. Turns out he doesn’t really appreciate that :), so I got this:
Me telling him what to do while taking the picture. Hehehe.
Oh! FedEx just came! Time for me to get even pickier with this, this, and Ligthtroom 2!!!!! Have to get ready for Learnfest baby!
I did wash and dry and finish up those skeins of handspun I was working on last week. 
This is from Pansies Pigeonroof Studios Fiber. Yum, yum! 
But this is what really has me excited, a little tester I did out of the one pound braid of wool. I am going to spin the rest of this up to make myself a knitted hoodie. So soft. First though I’m making myself finish up the fiber I need to get that baby blanket off my needles. But because my side has been bugging still I had to have something to work on while I laid on the couch, so I decided to sit down with the 2-at-a-time book. Once I figured out the long-tail cast on (from this video), it was pretty easy to get started. I love the book, I think without the very clear pictures of each step on the tutorial sock it would be a bit tricky because there is a lot going on at the beginning. Once you get about an inch on the needles and figure out how to keep the socks on the middle it’s pretty easy. Here’s a in progress shot:
I used one ball of yarn, the stuff I spun up earlier this month, pulling from the center of the ball and then the outside as well. I have never finished a pair of stocks so quickly:
Okay so they are about a size four toddler pair, but still! The one thing I was worried about was laddering, but the book had great tips for that (laddering is where your needles come together, if you don’t knit tight enough the stitches can be loose and show a ladder of open spots). I think I might have even knit a little too tightly because I was paranoid. Next to try is a toe up variety. And while I really want to start on a pair my size, I think I will go for one more child’s size to make sure I don’t have problems switching to that style. Now it’s off to jar land!
Okay I said goodbye to the kiddos last night. Karsen made sure to give the baby (well my belly) a big hug goodbye and kept talking to it, "goooooodbye baby. I love you." Awe so cute. Last time with those little munchkins, and a good thing, while so fun they did wear me out! Thursday was my brothers birthday and we had a crazy fun day. After I picked them up from day camp we went for a long walk to the park.
They each picked up sticks. Sticks are apparently the best toys ever. Of course I did quickly figure out that if they are going to take sticks in the car they have to be where your feet go. Karsen had one in her hand for a five minute car ride and I had horrible flashes of her poking herself in the eye. We walked all the way through the park to get to the other side where there is a playground for younger children:
Hogan has such a great spirit. Bj said to me yesterday day, "that Hogan is one fantastic kid." And I couldn’t agree more. I think I need to go give their parents gold stars for doing such a great job. Even when we go to things like this a little more geared to those Karsen’s age, he never complains and always wants to help his sister. It just makes you melt. We headed back towards my house:
But the closest we got was five blocks from my house. Sissy had already tripped twice, she was getting tired I think and wasn’t picking up her feet. I was holding her hand so both times I kept her up by yanking on her arm. And then Hogan tripped because he kept kicking off his flip flops while walking so I called for back up and Bj drove over to get us. It was Burger King for dinner (I know, I know) because I knew I was already going to get the kitchen messy for my next project. It was Brent’s 26th birthday and we wanted to do some special things, like draw cards:
They were so cute, full of crayons and ribbon and tape, they love tape. And then we made cupcakes:
They were so funny doing this, sissy put like five colors on the top of each cupcake, and THEN added sprinkles and marshmallows. Brent loved them though:
I have to tell you what his girlfriend did for his birthday. She made up all these cute cards (scrapbook style) with clues for a scavenger hunt around town. Like one of the things led him to starbucks where he ordered a drink (which was then paid for), and when he got the drink he got the next card. Isn’t that clever?
Friday was a little more mellow as we got up and it was actually sunny! We have had a dreary week, usually I love that, but it did limit the amount of time the kids could run around. So we played outside, had lunch outside, and then they came over while I worked. Karsen actually fell asleep (she’s not on an every day nap schedule now), so I had some alone time with Hogan and I finally gave in to his repeated requested to let him knit. He blew me away with his patience.
If you are going to teach a little kid to knit can I just say variegated yarn and circular needles are a must. It keeps things interesting and he was much less likely to drop a stitch this way. I cast on, and then knit every other row for him to tighten things back up. But he was so quick, so even, and, get this, picked up his own dropped stitch, with out me telling him to! I’m seriously thinking he’s the next knitting prodigy:
He didn’t get much further because we went for a swim after, but I bound this off for him. He said he’s going to use it as a scarf for one of his doggies. Then Bj fed them dinner while I had my prenatal yoga class (out of the four regulars three are due with in a week of me, and none are finding out the sex of the baby, cool!). Their parents came home and that was the week. I promised them they could come see the baby when it comes, which they are very excited about.
Today was going to be all about relaxing, and I am, but have been doing a bit more than the nothing I was attempting to accomplish. If you know me that’s pretty much an impossibility anyway. I got up early because I had fallen asleep at 10:30 (I told you those kids wore me out!). I messed around a little with my wheel, then went to my first prenatal massage. The RN at my last Dr’s appointment told me that would be the best thing to try and get rid of this absolutely terrible side pain I’ve been having. I think it’s a pulled muscle but because I’ve never worked out hard enough to pull a muscle before I have no idea if that’s really it. When I do nothing it feels fine, then when I sit (like in the car) for too long, or do a lot of stuff with my left side it hurts again something awful. The massage was HEAVEN. And I’m getting another in a week for my birthday and if it was my birthday every week I would get one that often, it was so nice. Added bonus, I was so relaxed that the baby was moving around a ton. I have been thinking I felt it for a bit, but it’s a much stranger sensation than I ever thought, not like I would describe kicking at all. Today at the massage the baby was moving so much the masseuse felt it! (Hey Bj you should give me lots of massages, then maybe you’ll feel the baby :). Coming home I felt too good to just sit around and do nothing (which was the plan), so I finished plying the yarn on my wheel, had a nice iChat with Ceara, and finally got to organizing that mess of jars I scored (I just have to wash lids now…. NOOOOOOOO). I also called my neighbor Tracy to set up a time to dye some wool and yarn in a few weeks. We’ve been wanting to do this, and I’m trying to meet some fiber related goals before I go crazy at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival at the end of September. Plus I had to do some laundry, and clean up (I came home and Bj had totally cleaned the kitchen and was vacuuming so I did feel a little guilty about my pile of stuff on the church pew). And now that I’ve made my side a little sore again I really am going to go back towards the nothing end of the scale (but with a little knitting and spinning thrown in).